A typical connector such as a harness connector for use in the automobile industry includes a male harness connector and a female harness connector. Typically, the male harness connector includes a plurality of contact pins and the female harness connector includes a plurality of ferrules in the form of sockets which mate with respective contact pins. In use, the male contact pins are plugged into the female sockets to effect a mechanical and electrical connection between the two. Typically, a plurality of cables such as coaxial cables are electrically and mechanically attached to respective contacts of one of the harness connectors such as the contact pins of the male connector. Similarly, a plurality of coaxial cables is typically electrically and mechanically attached to respective contacts of the other connector, such as the ferrules of the female connector. The cables may be attached to the respective contacts by crimping and/or welding in a conventional manner.
In such an application there is a need for providing a satisfactory male contact pin which exhibits adequate strength and conductivity. There is also a need for providing a pin terminal which exhibits adequate conductivity, and satisfactory strength and ductility for electrical and mechanical crimped connection between a conductor and the terminal.
When fabricating male contacts such as, for example, pin-type contacts for use in a pin-type harness connector, it is known to use a dual gauged material to form a contact terminal, for attachment to a conductor such as a coaxial cable, and a pin extending from the terminal. Such material provides satisfactory ductility for crimping connectors to the conductor and satisfactory strength and conductivity. However, the use of dual gauged material is much more costly than single gauged material. It is also known to use single gauged material which is folded to provide contact pins having a 0.64 mm terminal interface. However, it is inherent in such a configuration that contact pins fabricated from folded material are limited to two sided matability. In addition, there are strength concerns in such applications.